Murray being prepped by a political master

He’s ahead in polls for Seattle Mayor, but State Sen. Ed Murray hasn’t exactly brought the house down on the campaign trail, talking about “togetherness” and his “coalition-building skills.”

With a trio of TV debates coming up — starting Wednesday at KING-TV — Murray has acquired a volunteer debate adviser who has coached Presidents Clinton and Obama, and was present at the notably successful roll out of Gov. Jay Inslee’s TV campaign and program in 2012.

The adviser is Frank Greer. Based in Seattle, Greer broke into national prominence with three Democratic Senate victories in 1986 — including Brock Adams in Washington — and by masterminding election of an African-American, Doug Wilder, as governor of Virginia in 1989. He was communications director — and wife Stephanie Solien served as national political director — of the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign.

Greer was the model for the glad handing, flattery-prone presidential candidate handler lArlen Sporkin in the bestselling political novel Primary Colors, written anonymously by Joe Klein of Time magazine.

The “Greer-Solien machine” — as identified in their voice mail message — has been involved in a variety of civic, conservation and education causes in the Seattle area. And Greer’s firm, the bi-coastal Greer Margolis Mitchell Burns & Associates, worked in both Obama presidential campaigns.

Greer has enjoyed a successful of charismatic clients — Wilder, Clinton, Obama and, in the new South Africa’s first presidential election, Nelson Mandela.